Grace
by TwilightG
Summary: Meet Grace Winters, a beautiful pureblood Gryffindor student, close friend to the Golden Trio. She thinks she's found the perfect penpal, he's smart, funny, and polite.But who is this perfect stranger? Can this be too good to be true? Will update soon!
1. Off to a Bad Start

"For the last time Grace, _Get UP!_" The annoyed voice rang up the stairs. "We're going to miss the train!"

The Winters Manor was in complete chaos. Clothes, schoolbooks and breakfast was strewn throughout the main hallways from the haste of last minute packing, and the shouts and arguments sounding throughout the house was enough to make even the most deaf person hold his ears from the noise. This apparently was not the case for sixteen year-old Grace Winters however. As the rest of the house shook from the activity and noise, Grace was still sound asleep in her cozy, king-size bed, not the least bit aware of what was going on outside her silent room. Little did the rest of the family know that she had put a soundproofing charm on her room the week after she had come home from school because she had gotten sick and tired of being woken up before noon by her annoying little brother and sisters trampling the halls outside her room, so she couldn't hear a thing going on outside her door. About two minutes later however, with a small poof of blue smoke, an alarm clock appeared out of thin air, and hovered right next to her ear and gave an ear-splitting RING! With a yell and a jump, Grace woke up, toppling off the side of her bed with a loud Thud.

"OW! What the bloody hell was that?! " She cried, trying to untangle herself from her blankets.

"GET UP GRACE!" Came her mother's voice from the hovering alarm clock. We have to leave in ten minutes!"

Finally liberated from her blankets enough so she could at least breathe, Grace looked up and glared at the air-born clock, it's face know resembling that of her mother's.

"What did you do that for?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"We're going to miss the train because of you if you don't hurry up!" the clock replied irritated, ignoring her pointless question. And with a last, "Hurry up!" The clock fell from the air onto the pile of blankets that was her lap; it's face now back to normal, showing her what time it was.

"10:30?!" Grace shouted in alarm and sprang to her feet. Or at least she tried to, as Grace was still swaddled in her blankets, and made it only halfway before she crashed back down in a heap. Flailing and cursing, Grace finally was able to fully untangle herself and got up, only to be presented with her body's feelings toward being woken up in such a fashion.

"O_WWWWWWW_!" She moaned as she straightened up, clutching her back and head at the same time. "TWIX! TWINKY! COME HERE!"

A second later, two houselves appeared with a loud CRACK and bowed.

"How may we serve Miss?" The first one, Twix asked humbly.

Trying to block out her pains, Grace said, " Can you two please help me pack my school things for me then take it downstairs with the rest of the luggage? You'll notice I got up a bit late this morning."

"Of courses miss of courses." Twinky replied with another bow.

In to much agony to complain about their nonsense bowing (She never approved of house-elf enslavement, nor the way they humbled themselves around humans) Grace just nodded and rushed to the bathroom to change and get ready. In a flash she had her pajamas off and her wand pointed at herself. With a "_Acqua inodio!"_ she was drenched head to toe in hot soapy water. "_Lavcapellio!" _and her hair was washed and rinsed. With another flick of the wand, she was rinsed and dried and had her hair wrapped in a towel and was rushing to her huge walk-in closet. For a minute Grace actually paused, staring at her clothes as though hoping for the perfect outfit to come soaring out. When none did, she sighed and began thumbing through the closet herself, searching, finally deciding on her favorite low-rise dark blue jeans that slightly flared at the bottom and a big black T-shirt with a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow from her favorite muggle movie of all time, _Pirates of the Caribbean, the Curse of the Black Pearl _on the front that came down to her thighs not caring that it didn't show off her gorgeous figure. Taking the towel out of her hair Grace carelessly ran a comb through it and shook it back and forth for a "not so neat look" deciding to just let it air dry. Running out of the bathroom back into her room she saw how the house-elves were doing, pleased when she saw they were almost done, not so pleased when she saw that the time was now 10:38 and she was going to be late.

"Here, let me help." Grace said as she began rushing around the room picking up last minute necessaries, then shoving them all into her trunk. With a last look around she decided that was everything and slammed and locked the trunk shut. "Thanks guys, can you take this downstairs for me now?"

"Yes Miss!" They both squeaked, grabbing each end and vanishing with a loud CRACK.

Grace looked around her room again double-checking it to make sure she had everything, then turned and started toward the door when she heard a tapping on one of her large windows. She turned and saw a beautiful black and white-tipped owl tapping on the windowpane with his beak, waiting for her to let him in. Grace grinned widely at the familiar owl, the owl that had frequented Winters Manor bearing letters from an unknown friend—a pen-pal of sorts, and quickly ran to open the window for him. The magnificent owl immediately swooped in onto her bed and held out his leg for her to untie the letter. Grace obeyed the unspoken command, and was about to open the letter and start reading when she heard her mother's voice yet again floating from downstairs through her open door.

"Hurry up Grace, were going to miss the train!"

"I'm coming!" She yelled back to her, then looked at the owl who was waiting for her to send a reply. "I'm sorry, Shadow, I don't have time to send a reply, I have to go."

As though he could understand (no doubt he did understand) he gave a low hoot and flew again out the open window.

"Come on Grace!"

Rolling her eyes and placing the letter in her pocket to read later, Grace quickly closed and locked the window and dashed out of her room and down the stairs to her waiting family.

"Finally!" She heard her mother cry exasperated as Grace made her appearance in the front hall.

"Did little Grace-Y-Poo sleep in this morning?" Came a second voice from the small crowd at the entrance, in an annoying, baby-talk drawl.

"Oh shut up Jessica, at least I don't _need _to get up early to put on my make-up in order to look like a normal _human being_." Grace snapped back to the oldest of her little sisters. "You seemed to have been on the short end of the gene pool as far as looks are concerned."

Before Jessica could respond, their mother interrupted the argument with a "now behave" and a shove out the door towards the two cars parked right outside. Jessica's eyes flashed as she looked back at her big sister, a sure sign of revenge, but Grace couldn't care less. Jessica would forget all about her plot of revenge as soon as they board the train. Then all she'll care about is boys.

Sure enough, as soon as they stepped through the barrier, Jessica said goodbye to her parents and went to find her fellow, empty-headed little Slytherin friends. With a little more care than her little sister, Grace gave both her mom and dad a hug and a kiss and said goodbye to her youngest sibling, James, who wasn't yet old enough to go to Hogwarts. As soon as the whistle started blowing —a signal that the train was about to go— Grace ran aboard the Hogwarts Express and waved a final goodbye to her parents and little brother. Once they were out of sight, She turned and began looking for an empty compartment, or at least a Gryffindor-friendly one to sit in. She knew she wouldn't find Ron and Hermione anywhere, as they had prefect duties they had to attend to, but Grace hoped that she could at least find Harry Potter. After looking around for a while however, she gave up, and settled for a compartment near the end of the train, having remembered her letter and wanting to read it.

**(A/N: as you can see I've changed this chapter from the 2****nd**** person to the 3****rd**** person because I know it just sounded weird any other way. The remaining chapters (except for the latest one) is still in 2****nd**** person form, but I am working to change that as soon as I can! I want to thank SemperFi for finally voicing the thoughts I've been having about the way I wrote this story but have been too lazy to fix. I figure that now that its been pointed out, I should hurry up and fix the embarrassing problem ASAP!! **

**And thank you Sparklyshimmer2010 for reading and reviewing this story despite its flaws!)**


	2. Draco Malfoy's Threat

Taking the now crumpled letter out of her jean pocket, Grace leaned back in her seat and began to read:

_" Hey Grace,_

_I can't WAIT to get out of this place and back at school._

_My parents are driving me CRAZY and this girl who has this huge crush_

_on me (I mean huge, she thinks that we're engaged) won't leave me alone! _

_She is __stalking__ me! I can't wait until I can put some space between me and her _

_even if she's in my house. I'm sure you can't get away from your little sisters either _

_from what you've written about them. Did the soundproofing spell work? I tried it in _

_my room and it worked. Well, at least until my father realized why I never_

_responded when he called for me, and he blew it to pieces. That sucked. But your_

_parents didn't find out did they? Even if they did they couldn't have POSSIBLY _

_made you take it off would they? They would have known that you needed it to _

_keep your sanity over summer break what with five siblings! I know I would have nee—"_

She was interrupted by sound of the compartment door sliding open. "What do you want?" She snapped at whoever was coming in, and looked up from the letter with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Ooh Cranky." Came a cold voice from the doorframe. "You should really watch that attitude with me _Winters_. I might just have to put you in detention." It was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Go away you slimy git." Grace growled at him, and turned back to her letter and tried to continue reading.

"Ooh, what's this Winters, a love letter?" Malfoy sneered at her, and snatched the letter from her hands to look at it.

"GIVE IT BACK MALFOY!" Grace shouted at him as she jumped to her feet, her wand in hand. Malfoy smirked, and continued to read.

"Now, now, be polite. It appears as though you've been practicing magic over the break. You know that's not allowed. I may just have to report you. I'm sure your fellow Gryffindors will appreciate getting points docked off the very first day of school!"

"Don't even think about it Malfoy." Grace threatened. It was an empty threat really, he was a prefect and she wasn't and she _had_ done magic outside of school illegally. She could get suspended, or worse, expelled if he decided to snitch. Grace tried to snatch the paper back from Malfoy but he was too quick. He grabbed her wrist with his free hand and twisted her arm and pinned her against the wall. Outraged, Grace jabbed her wand into his stomach but that was useless, he grabbed that hand as well and forced her to drop her wand.. "Play nice." He whispered in her ear, then flipped her over to face him, her hands over her head. "Be careful Winters, irritate me and you just might find yourself taking the train back home permanently." He whispered inches from her face. Grace didn't respond, she was furious but was powerless do anything, forced to just look straight back into his chilling ice blue-grey eyes. For a moment they just looked at each other then, without warning, Malfoy kissed her full on the lips. Not barbaric, but firm, shocking Grace so much that she opened her mouth when Malfoy wanted to deepen the kiss, completely forgetting what exactly was happening. Malfoy broke away and looked at her, smirking his usual smirk, but Grace could have sworn she saw something else flare briefly in his eyes before it was gone, replaced with his usual smugness. "Not a bad kiss Winters." He whispered to her, snapping Grace out of her daze.

"Why you little—!" She began but was cut off by another breath-taking kiss from Malfoy. "Remember, be nice." He said at last, finally letting her go and throwing the letter back to her as he quickly disappeared out of the compartment before she had a chance to hex him.

"MALFOY!!" Grace screamed and hurried to pick up her wand off of the floor to dash outside into the hallway. Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT!"

Positively fuming, She stomped back into her compartment, picked up the crumpled letter and flung herself back into her seat, only to earn herself another dose of shooting pain through her back and sore bum. A couple minutes later her compartment door slide open again, and still grumpy and thinking that it was Malfoy again come to annoy her again, Grace had her wand up in a flash and had cried _"Petrificus Totalus!" _before the person had even made it through the door.

"_GRACE!"_ What did you do that for?!" Came a girl's voice from just outside the door.

"Ron! You Ok mate?" Came another voice, a boy's.

Realizing it wasn't Draco Malfoy, but her fellow Gryffindor friends, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley (who was the one she had hit with the full body bind) her hands flew to her mouth in an expression of apology and released Ron from her spell.

"Oh I'm so sorry Ron! I didn't know it was you!"

"Ow, who did you think it was?!" Ron moaned, clutching his head. "Grace, that _HURT_!"

"Sorry!"

Harry laughed as he offered Ron a hand up.

"Oh shut up Harry." Ron grumbled, ignoring Harry's hand and stumbled to his feet by himself.

"So, Grace, how was your holiday?" Hermione asked changing the subject. And so Grace told them all about it, how her sisters nearly drove her crazy, and how she had almost set her little sister Jessica's head on fire when Grace found out that Jessica had trashed her room _and_ had read out of her diary.

"Too bad you didn't though." Ron said after she had finished. "Imagine what she would have looked like bald!"

"_Ron!_" Hermione scolded "You should be glad she didn't! She could have gotten in serious trouble with the Improper use of Magic department!"

"Oh Hermione, it's not like she does this type of stuff _all_ the time!" Ron defended, not noticing Grace's faint blush as he said it. "Not like Harry here, who probably knows every wizard in that office by now with all the things _he's_ done!

"Hey! Half of the time it wasn't me that had done it!" Harry interjected defensively.

"But that still doesn't make it right now does it! "Hermione shot back.

"You didn't do any magic after that anyway did you Grace?" Harry asked loudly over Hermione's and Ron's bickering to get them to shut up to hear her.

"Well..." Grace started, feeling more than a little bit uncomfortable, looking anywhere but Hermione's open-mouthed look of shock.

Ron grinned. "So what did you do?"

"Well, I sort of soundproofed my room so I wouldn't have to listen to my brother and sisters in the mornings and could actually sleep-in." Grace muttered quietly, her face flushing.

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed "I should've thought of that! Then I wouldn't have had to listen to that stupid ghoul above my room all the time!"

"It's _not_ brilliant, she could have been in a lot of trouble if she was caught!" Hermione was looked at you disapprovingly.

"Oh shut up Hermione, she's still here isn't she?"

"Well it's not like I'm going to do anything like that again anyways," Grace said, having remembered Malfoy's threat. "Not with Malfoy trying to get me kicked out for doing magic outside of school."

"How does Malfoy know you did magic over the summer?" Harry asked, anger flickering in his eyes as it usually did whenever there was mention of Malfoy.

"You remember my pen pal from last year?" Grace asked the trio reluctantly. She had never mentioned to them that she had kept in contact with him over the holidays because she thought they would be jealous that her assigned pen-pal worked out when theirs didn't. When Dumbledore had announced this little Pen-pal idea around the middle of the school year after there had been some serious fights breaking out between houses most of the staff had agreed that anonymous friends by owl between the four houses was just what the students needed to settle the unrest between them. Almost needless to say, it was a _total_ disaster. After about a week of letters, Harry Ron and Hermione at least had realized that all their pen-pals were Slytherins and stopped writing. Harry had ended up with Millicent Bulstrode, who looked like a female version of Grabbe or Goyle, with the brains to match from what the letters mutely said, while Ron had somehow ended up with the dreaded Pansy Parkinson, who only talked about Draco Malfoy and how great he was and how she was going to marry him one day getting into such gross detail that Ron quit writing by about the second letter, too disgusted to even taunt her about it in the hallways. Hermione ended up with Blaise Zabini, another Slytherin in their year, but stopped answering his letters after he made it clear that he hated anything to do with non-purebloods and cursing "Mudbloods" to death and darkness and made a point of wishing a terrible death on the "Golden Trio" and all their admirers. Only Grace appeared to have had the fortune of having a pen-pal that wasn't a snotty Slytherin.

"What about him?" Harry asked as all three nodded in recognition.

"Well, we still wrote to each other throughout the summer, and I had been reading the latest letter from him —which was talking about how the soundproofing went— when that poor-excuse-for-a-wizard came in and took snatched the letter from me and read." Grace didn't mention what else Malfoy had done partly out of fear that Harry and Ron would go storming off to challenge Malfoy and which would risk Malfoy gaining an even _greater_ reason to snitch, and partly because she was embarrassed that they would find out that she had actually _liked_ it.

_Liked it? No, that's not what I meant, surely. I'm embarrassed that I let the slimy git anywhere near me at all. Why would I _like _a kiss from Malfoy, the symbol of all Darkness?..._

"Why didn't you _Accio_ it right back?" Harry looked outraged.

"Well, he, um—prevented me." Grace's cheeks flushed as she looked away from the trio. "And besides, he threatened to tell _and_ he's a prefect." It was a lame excuse she knew it, but she couldn't _possibly_ tell them the real reason she didn't curse Malfoy into oblivion or worse. Ron obviously also thought it was a lame excuse too for next thing Grace knew he was raving on about how _he_ would've hexed Malfoy into the next century if a situation had presented itself—which, Ron pointed out—he thought it had.

"Oh give it a rest Ron, it's probably for the better that she hadn't done anything." Hermione sighed exasperated. Grace was relieved at Hermione's interruption, but at the same time, she couldn't help but agree with Ron. Surely, in any other case, she would have done just as Ron would've and cursed Malfoy into the kingdom come, not caring if he was a prefect or not. But the fact that Malfoy had actually _kissed_ her, _against her will,_ she assured herself, made her worried that he would milk it for all it's worth and spread around that she had _liked _it, and was kissing him _back_. Or worse, that _she _had kissed _him_. That would be _humiliating, _it would completely ruin her reputation: a _Gryffindor_ with a _Slytherin_ the two being sworn rivals?! And it didn't help that she was friends with the Golden Trio, and him being the Prince of Slytherin and all that. Grace brooded silently over that disturbing thought the remainder of the trip watching with Harry as Ron and Hermione played a few games of wizards chess, Ron slowly unwinding. Ron and Hermione were into their second game when a breathless and blushing third-year girl came by to deliver an invitation from Professor Slughorn the presumed new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, whom Harry had helped Dumbledore persuade to come back and teach at Hogwarts. From what Harry had told the three of them, they all agreed that they didn't like him, but Harry, feeling as though he had no choice, sighed, and left, leaving her, Ron and Hermione alone to play chess.


	3. Owlrey? Yeah Right

It was pouring by the time the Hogwarts Express rolled to a stop, and they had to rush to get to one of the thestral drawn carriage's before they all got drenched. Grace's eyes lingered on the thestrals as they always did since her third year at Hogwarts, after the death of your uncle Charlie. She had witnessed his death after an unchecked potion side effect rendered him paralyzed just as he was going down the stairs to the basement area of the Winters manor. He fell down the three flights of stairs, to where Grace had been watching _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days_. With a major concussion, a punctured lung, two broken legs and one broken arm and most of his ribs broken she had rushed to help, to comfort, to do _something_ but it was too late. He died in her arms from a pierced heart from the broken rib shards, and significant brain damage. After that Grace never could eat popcorn again, and the movie _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days _became her least favorite movie of all time and she refused to watch it ever again. Grace thought the title alone was a cruel joke. But every year since then, she had been able to see the invisible horse-like creatures that pulled the carriages, and she felt a pang of grief for the loss of her favorite uncle whenever she looked at them.

"Come on Grace!"

The voice woke her from her memories and she hurriedly climbed into the carriage.

Harry still hadn't showed for dinner, by the time the Sorting had ended and the four houses were welcoming the newcomers. Just before Grace's favorite course of pudding was served, did Harry finally arrive. He walked quickly to where his best friends were sitting together, head ducked, and squeezed in between Ron and Hermione, trying to avoid the stares coming from all around the Great Hall.

"Blimey Harry, what happened to you?" Ron goggled when he saw him. Grace look up at this in the middle of taking a sip from her goblet, and choked.

"What happened?!" Hermione squealed, which was just what Grace was going to say if she hadn't been trying to _die_ two seats over from coughing on her Coke (compliments to the kitchen house-elves). Needless to say coke is a very painful thing to be coughing on, especially when it goes up your nose with an eye-watering burning sensation.

"Harry, you're covered in blood!" Grace managed to choke out between fatal coughs, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh, that. It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He muttered to his plate as he began shoveling what was left of dinner onto his plate.

"It's not nothing Harry, tell us!" Hermione asked with wide eyes. "At least let me clean it! _Tergeo!" _

"Thanks."

"So, what's the story?" Grace asked, while wiping her eyes on her sleeve, her coughing fit over, leaving her alive, but certain that she'll never be able to breath the same again.

"I'll tell you later, right now I'm starving!"

The three of you look at him, wondering where he had gone after Slughorn's party that had given him a bloody nose. Surely he didn't go looking for Malfoy to curse because he had threatened Grace. He was mad when she had told him naturally, but he wouldn't be crazy enough to try and end up cornered by a group of Slytherins now would he? She didn't think so, but Harry had been feeling a little reckless ever since his Godfather died, so she couldn't be sure. Her gaze lifted from Harry to behind him, where the Slytherins sat. Grace zeroed in on Malfoy's location almost instantly. He was looking up directly at her, smirking.

_Slimy git. _

She gestured rudely at him, (something she never would have done in the presence of her mother, but frankly she couldn't care less) and looked away.

"Listen guys, I'm done, I'll see you later." She announced to the trio, wanting to get out of range of that evil smirk.

"But Dumbledore hasn't dismissed us yet!" Hermione protested.

Grace rolled her eyes at her not caring. "Listen Hermione, I'm just going to the toilet Okay? I'll try to come back before you're all dismissed."

"Fine then..."

She got up and left, mentally restraining herself from rolling her eyes again.

_Perfect Prefect. _

She didn't notice that Draco Malfoy had left the Slytherin table as well, and was following her out of the Hall.

Halfway up to Gryffindor Tower she realized someone is following her. Grace, not in the best of moods at the moment decided to scare whoever was behind her. She turned at the nearest corner, which happened to have a door, opened the door as though she had gone inside, then closed it again, so her follower wouldn't become suspicious from lack of footsteps. Wand at the ready, she heard him about to round the corner and she pounced, grabbing him and slamming him to the wall, wand pointed to the back of his head.

"Will you get _off_ me?!" The muffled, but unmistakable voice of Draco Malfoy, sounding annoyed.

"No. Why were you following me?"

"I wasn't following you. Why would I follow _you_ Winters?"

Grace shoved him into the wall again. "Liar. Why were you following me Malfoy?"

"Look, I was just going to the Owlery Ok?"

"With no letter? Do you think I'm stupid? The owlery would be in the direction you just came you idiot."

She twisted him around harshly so he could face her, her hand 'round his throat, and her wand now pointed at his chest.

"Haven't had enough of me Winters?" He smirks. "I know I'm unbearably hot, but no need for the roughhousing."

"Oh stuff it you puffed-up peacock!" Grace snarled at his smug expression. "You're as vain as a cat."

He merely smirked. "And yet, _you're_ the one with the cat symbol for your house. How ironic."

**A/N... Okay, SOOO sorry this is taking so long... I know I probably have a LOT of grammar mistakes in this chapter, but I promise I'll come back and fix them when I have time... I just changed all the "you" and "yours" because I haven't had time to properly re-read this chapter yet!! Sorry!**

A/N New: _**I, TwilightG, do solemnly swear to review all the fics I enjoy, regardless of the number of reviews, its age, or anything else. **_**It's a good pledge. Please follow it, because it lets me know how many people actually like the story, rather than those who read it and don't.**

This pledge is at the bottom of currently my favorite Avatar story so far (_Mistakes of the Past, by Sayle), _and it mirrors my own thoughts so closely that I've decided to post it here in hope that you will follow it as I will strive to follow it.


	4. You Paralyze Me

Next thing Grace knew he had grabbed her wand hand that was pointed at his chest and twisted it harshly, the pain making her dr

Next thing Grace knew he had grabbed her wand hand that was pointed at his chest and twisted it harshly, the pain making her drop my wand (for the _second _time that day no less) and release his throat. His wand now was out and pointed at her, while she rubbed her throbbing wrist. With just a flick of his wand Grace found herself paralyzed with her sore wrist at her side, completely unable to move before she even had a chance to react. She could still curse him however, if only in her head, furious that he had gotten the best of her _twice _in one day! How unfair is that?

_I mean, give a girl a break here! _Grace thought, more than a little bit irritated with the situation. _I hadn't done anything to him (well, except for my attack just then, but that doesn't count.) I can be right Angelic when I want to be. _

"You'll find though Winters, that _my_ house is known for it's cunning and intelligence." Draco bragged to her expecting no response.

_Yeah, I know. If you weren't so evil, I would have wondered _why_ the Sorting Hat put you there..._

It was kind of pathetic, insulting him I mean, when she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her, but it felt good anyway. Looking at Malfoy with his smug expression still there, completely unaware of what Grace had just said (rather, _thought _of saying) actually cheered her up a bit. Oh, and the fact that she know how to do wand-less _and_ non-verbal magic, and was in the process of freeing myself from Malfoy's body bind. Unlike the old fashioned way of regular wand magic, wand-less spell casting takes a lot more concentration and skill, something that Grace had been practicing with her cousin Ray since before her uncle Charlie died. He had said she had a knack for it.

"What's the matter Winters? _Cat_ got your tongue?" Draco laughed at her, and the defenseless state he had her in. She rolled her eyes. (those at least she could move in order to blink)

A second later of concentration and she was free.

"That was absolutely the _lamest _joke I have _ever _heard. Lucky you're a pureblood Malfoy, 'cuz there was _no_ way you could have gotten into Slytherin with _your _level of intelligence."

Malfoy stopped laughing, and Grace grinned. "What's the matter? You look shocked." He glared at her and raised his wand again. Grace just sighed and let him paralyze her again. Oh, except he _couldn't_ because it just rebounded back to him.

"Oh, I _completely_ for got to tell you I shielded myself!" Grace exclaimed in fake astonishment as she watched him fall backwards, with nothing to break his fall.

"Dear me, it must have slipped my mind!" Now it was HER turn to laugh.

He didn't say anything of course, but glared at the ceiling through his ruffled hair as though wishing it a slow and agonizingly painful death. She knew he was thinking of her.

"Here Draco dear," She purred sweetly at him coming over to kneel next to him as though he was someone dear to her (So not).

"Let me get this hair out of your eyes. I wouldn't want you to look anything except your best." She could almost feel her eyes sparkle with mischief as she thought of the perfect punishment for Malfoy for blackmailing her, and hurting Harry. Grace held out her hand palm upward and concentrated on what it was she wanted. A second later Madame Markers Multi-Purpose Magic Marker(_great for more realistic, semi-purpose tattoos, labels and much more!) _appeared in her hand the cap already off and ready.


	5. The Marker is Mighter Than the Wand

Next thing Grace knew he had grabbed her wand hand that was pointed at his chest and twisted it harshly, the pain making her dr

"Let's see now...do you fancy a mustache Malfoy?" She held the marker inches from his skin, watching his eyes' reaction. They widened in horror, and were mutely shouting _No, no! Don't do it please! _

"I think it would make you look absolutely dashing!"

Grace began to draw. Now, if you've ever read the description of Captain Hook from Peter Pan, you know what it looked like. She made it huge, larger than life and extremely thick, so the end curls of the mustache nearly filled up both cheeks. When finished, she drew back to admire her handy-work. "Oh dear. Turns out I was wrong. Mustaches don't look good on you." She sat back on her heels as if in serious concentration. Though her body gave of only the slightest of trembles, it revealed how hard she was trying to contain her laughter.

"Maybe..." She tapped the marker on her chin. "Maybe if we thickened the eyebrows a bit to even it all out it would look better."

Draco's eyes widened even further, an obvious, _Noooooo!! _

She scribbled at the eyebrows a bit making them just as bushy as the mustache.

"Hmm. I'm still not seeing it. maybe if I..." She joined the two brows together with marker turning it into a unibrow. "There!" Grace said in triumph. "That looks better!"

She fished out a mirror from out of her robes and showed him. He looked absolutely horrified. Looking at him, Grace was certain that if he widened his eyes any further they would fall out. He squeezed his eyes shut as though trying to hide from his refection.

"You don't like it?" She pouted, pretending to be hurt. "Well, I suppose it does make you look older...lets add some freckles on the cheeks to add some youth." She painted them on his cheeks, three dots on each side.

"Oh dear, now you look too young! let's add a goatee! I've always loved those!" She drew a beard on his chin, the length going to the middle of his neck. Grace looked down at her shirt at the pirate Jack Sparrow and got another idea.

"Ooh! let's not forget the eyeliner!" At this, Malfoy began to struggle, rapidly blinking his eyes to keep the marker from coming near them. She easily subdued that however, pinning the eyes shut with her fingers and lining the eyes.

Grace pretended he messed her up however and exclaimed, "_Now_ look at what you've done! I guess you'll have to have eye shadow as well now!"

Finally she was finished. She placed the marker into her bag and grabbed both her wand and Malfoy's stuffing them into her robes.

"Well, it's been lovely and all Draco, but I've got a feast to get back too." She stood up and dusted off her knees.

"Oh, and don't worry, that marker's not permanent, a couple washes and it should come off." She conveniently forgot to say "a week" and turned to go. "Oh, and I have your wand, so your going to have to come and get it if you ever want it back..." When she reached the end of the hall, Grace raised her wand and released Draco from the spell. No need to ask, she high-tailed her way out of there, nearly flying to the Great hall; she wanted to get there before Malfoy caught up to her. Grace could hear his thundering footsteps behind her as she ran. It was only until she had opened the door to the Great hall that he caught up with her and grabbed the sleeve of her robe.

"Get _off!" _

"You're _dead_ Winters, _dead!_ You take this stuff off me _NOW!_"

_What did he take me for? An idiot? A person easily scared? Well if he thought that I was going to acquiesce, he had another thing coming. _

She pointed her wand at the hand he had used to grab her arm and he yelped in pain and let go. Grace entered the Great Hall and made it down to the Gryffindor table next to the trio grinning. When she looked back, she saw that Malfoy had not come in.

"What's so funny Grace?" Ron asked as she sat down next to him. Grace said nothing, but pulled out the marker and Malfoy's wand to show him. He didn't get it, but he recognized Malfoy's wand. "Hey, isn't

that—?"

"Shhh..." She whispered, putting it away. You'll find out soon enough."

She had come back just as Dumbledore was finishing up his start-of-the-year speech so it wasn't long until they found themselves reunited again with Gryffindor Tower. It was close to midnight when there was a knock on the painting that hid the Gryffindor common room. Grace Ron and Hermione had been listening to Harry telling them about his misgivings about Malfoy and had admitted why he was late coming to the feast. They all fell silent when they heard the knock, and Grace went to see who it was. She looked through the peephole (Grace was the one who had discovered it. Turns out it was the Brooch that the Fat lady wore on the front of her dress.)

It was Malfoy. She laughed outright when she saw him: It was obvious that he had tried to wash his face. The drawings had turned 3D. Every pen mark stood vivid on his face: All the facial hair looked real now. She had "accidently" forgotten that water activated the magic marker. Oops.

"Hey you guys, we have a visitor." Grace laughed. "It's Malfoy."

The four of them climbed out of the portrait hole and looked at Malfoy, Ron and Harry with their wands out. The trio stand there in shock. Then, slowly as it began to sink in, they all started laughing their heads off; four Gryffindors rolling around on the floor, paralyzed with laughter, and one murderous looking Slytherin, turning beet-red from humiliation. Grace was the first to recover and straightened up to talk. "So...I take it, the wash didn't help much."

Malfoy glared at her with wounded pride. "Shut up Winters, I just came for my wand."

"Oh yes, your wand, I had forgotten." When really she had forgotten no such thing. "I'll go and fetch it then shall I? Or would you like to come in?"

It was a mark of his wounded ego that he didn't try and curse them all on the spot like he would have done on any other occasion. Well, that and the fact that she had his wand. Grace shrugged an _oh well_ and disappeared behind the portrait again with the chortling trio to get his wand. When she reemerged with Malfoy's wand she and Malfoy were alone. Harry and Ron were still laughing at what she had done to Malfoy but from the comfort of the common room chairs, and Hermione finally went to bed, tired of all the lame joking and insults. Grace handed Malfoy his wand.

"Here you go. No harm done."

He looked at her with a, "yeah right, no harm done." Expression and snatched it from her.

"Well, if that's all...?"

Malfoy just looked at her stony-eyed.

"_Okay_ then, byes!" She turned to go through the door again when...

"Winters, wait!"

She turned back to him. "_Yes_?"

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry."

"_Yes_ I'm sorry! Now can you get this stuff _off _of me?!"

"Is that the only reason your sorry?"

"Yes—no—what?"

"What are you sorry for?"

"Winters, come _on!_ Just fix me!"

"So you're not _really_ sorry, you just want this marker off is that it?"

"Why else would I say I'm sorry?" THAT was a stupid thing for him to say. Grace looked at him incredulously. Any sympathy she thought she had for him quickly evaporated.

"Hmm...So for what reason do I have to help _you?_" She asked glaring back at him. "I can't seem to think of any, can you?"

"I'm a Prefect!"

"You abuse your position; that's not a good enough reason."

"I can give you detention for attacking a Prefect!" Malfoy shot back getting louder with every word.

"Go ahead and try it Malfoy like I care about a stupid detention!"

"I could go to Dumbledore and tell him you've been practicing magic outside of school!"

"And I could mention all the times _you've_ done magic over school breaks!" She shouted back. "All those muggle children you cursed? Yeah, I'm sure Dumbledore will love to hear about _THAT!" _

"Who told you _that?!_"

Grace laughed. "It's amazing what Slytherins brag about isn't it? One of the perks of having a gossiper for a sister!"

"You have a sister in _Slytherin?!_"

"Malfoy, quit changing the subject!"

"At least _one_ person in your family has their head on straight."

"Oh shut up! If all you can do is insult me then good_night!_"

"Wait! What about my face?!" He yelled at her retreating back.

"Personally, I think you look better that way." She called back to him as she stepped through the hidden entrance to the common room. "You almost look pleasant." With that, the portrait swung closed behind her, cutting Malfoy's reply off cold.


	6. But Is A Guilty Conscience?

_Dear Misunderstood,_

_It's not even the end of the first day back at school and already I've found trouble. It's the same jerk I've been telling you about. Well, complaining is probably more like it, but I can't help it, he's such a slimy GIT! He didn't even have the decency to wait until school had officially started to resume the war we'd been fighting since the first year we laid eyes on each other. No, he just _had_ to barge in and snatch the letter you had sent me just this morning, and actually read it! MY personal letter! He just swiped it from my hands while I was in the middle of reading it! Now he knows we both practiced magic over the summer! I'm __so_ _sorry he learned about you, but hopefully he won't be able to figure out who you really are since we don't use our real names in these letters! If he does figure it out we might just find ourselves on the train home faster than we could say "crap!"_

_LOL. Okay, I'll stop complaining now, what's done is done and there's nothing we can do to change that._

_Hee hee...Besides, I think I got my revenge for the stunt he pulled on the train today...Maybe we won't have to worry about his threats for right now...He's going to have a lot more to worry about than blackmailing me with that letter!_

_Speaking of which, no my parents did not find out about my little magic spell...They were to busy trying to keep the house in one piece from the onslaught of of Nathan, Adam, and James enjoying their holiday with bag after bag of candy for days on end. Mom just doesn't understand how three little kids could find and consume _ALL_ the candy in the secrete candy stash no matter how well she hides it. She swears there either must be magic involved, or it's an inside job. Dad is currently under suspicion but so far, he hasn't cracked._

_Needless to say with all the commotion going on my parents haven't noticed a thing, and for that I am grateful. I don't think I could have made it through the summer without being sent to Azkaban for three counts of first degree murder. Maybe they'd let me go if I pleaded insanity...Because surely a whole summer with my younger siblings would drive ANYONE crazy. _

_Sorry about your place though, at least you're back at Hogwarts with your friends! I know I'm happy to be back!_

_Well, I guess that's it for this letter, it's nearly two in the morning already! I'll post this in the morning before breakfast (hopefully) so I can make it through my first actual day back fueled with the hope of getting a response. _

_Your friend,_

_Graceful._

Grace put down her pen and began to reread the letter, looking to see if there was anything she left out. She smiled just a little bit as she looked at her signature at the end. Though she was supposed to make up a pen name, nothing she had thought of really fit, so she ended up just adding "ful" to the end of her name and hopefully no one would suspect that it was really Grace Winters. Lame, but really, Grace couldn't care less. She was sitting on her bed in Gryffindor tower, propped up with pillows, cozy warm with her covers to her waist and a blanket around her shoulders. Looking at the letter she knew there was a lot she had left out. Ranging from the unexpected (and of course, _unwanted_) kiss, to her sweet revenge on Malfoy afterwards, she just couldn't bring yourself to share that (especially the kiss) with anyone else. Of course the Trio knew about the Marker Incident with Malfoy, but they didn't know the full story, and frankly, she wanted it to stay that way!

Reflecting on her confrontation with Malfoy she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. Maybe, just _maybe_ she overdid it just a _little_ bit.

Grace growled in irritation. Why did her conscience have to make an appearance _NOW _of all times? She didn't owe Malfoy anything, _he_ was the one that was pure evil plain and simple. She tried to convince herself to just let it go, to ignore her rather _loud _guilty conscience.

The minutes ticked by as Grace tried to reassure herself.

One minute...Two minutes...Three minutes...Four—

"Ugh, _FINE_!" She exhaled angrily, flinging off her warm covers to rummage through her trunk at the end of her bed.

Muttering darkly she found what she was looking for:

Madame Marker's Magic Eraser, a bit of spare parchment and a bit of string. Tearing off a small piece of parchment paper Grace marched angrily back to her bed and with a quill and some ink from her bedside table drawer she wrote this:

_Here you are you slimy git. I guess I'll fix you after all._

_Don't bother sending it back because knowing you, _

_you'd probably curse it or something. _

_Maybe if you weren't such a pain in the arse you wouldn't have had this problem to begin with._

_Consider us even. _

Wrapping the parchment around the pen and tying it, she quietly snuck over to Lilly Pond's (I'm not even kidding, her parents were SO cruel) bedside table where her owl Jade sat blinking in her cage. Figures Lily would forget to let her owl out. It was good for her though, Grace didn't think she should test her luck by wandering the corridors so late at night on her first day back in the castle!

Opening the cage she held out her arm for Jade to hop onto. Explaining in hushed tones to the bird what she wanted, Grace tied the note and marker to her leg, writing a last minute "Draco Malfoy, Slytherin" on the outside just in case the bird got confused. Opening the window she watched Jade soar away into the darkness.

Still grumbling a little about gits like Malfoy Grace got back into bed, ready to tuck in for the night.

As an after thought, she grabbed her letter to her pen pal and wrote:

PS: _My conscience got the better of me so I guess you_ won't _see what I did to Malfoy. Still, hopefully he'll have learned his lesson and will keep his big mouth shut about the letter._

Hopefully...

With a jaw-cracking yawn Grace folded up her letter and put it away, extinguishing her light when she was done.

She may not have ended the day the way she would have liked, but at least her stupid conscience was finally keeping its mouth shut.

**(A/N: Sorry about not updating in forever, I've been super busy with school!! And I know the Grace's pen pal has a LAME pen name, but honestly I couldn't think of anything better!!!**

**And if you have any ideas for Grace's pen name, please share!**


	7. Author's Note please don't hate

Next thing Grace knew he had grabbed her wand hand that was pointed at his chest and twisted it harshly, the pain making her dr

AN/ Okay, sorry for whoever might be waiting for an update, I've been SUPER busy (and writers block). Please don't kill me for updating but not _really _updating, I know I hate it when it happens to me. I just wanted to try and fix this mess and try and make it sort of resemble a story…..

Anyways, hopefully I will update soon!!

And I've changed my mind about reviews. I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE THEM despite my attempts at not caring. I've gotten a fair amount of hits, but no reviews. If you hate it, TELL ME! If you kind of liked it, TELL M E! anything would be welcomed; I accept flames and criticism with open arms. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please share!! 


	8. No Bloody Justice

The next day dawned bright and cheerful. The rays of morning light streamed through the tall dorm windows, steadily filling the quiet room with light, much to Grace's displeasure.

It was _TOO_ bright. She groaned as she buried her face deep into her pillow and tried to ignore the joyous chirps of the birds outside the windows.

Her head was positively _throbbing_ and all the light and noise wasn't making it any better. If she could just block it all out, she just _might_ be able to fall back asleep and let the day start without her. She didn't think it would mind; it had been a good sport about such arrangements all summer, she didn't think it would start complaining now.

Grace drew her blankets up and over her head.

_Just block it all out..._

Two beds over, Lavender Brown had just woken up and was beginning to prepare for the day with much rustling and thumping, taking no care to muffle her activities.

_Just block it out..._

One bed down to her right came alive with a loud yawn and the unmistakable sounds of cracking joints as its occupant, Beatrice Bard started her day with her routine stretching and popping of her various joints.

_Ugh... _Grace thought despite herself. _That is so __gross!__ Why must she constantly __do_ _that?_

Pain jolted through her head again as a sliver of light penetrated the folds of her blanket and found her delicate eyes.

_Owww..._.

She buried herself still deeper into her pillows and drew her blanket tighter over her head. Only the smallest of gaps was allowed to feed her the much-needed oxygen to keep from suffocating under her bedding.

_Just ignore everything...Sleep...Let me go back to sleep..._

Outside the chirps grew louder and more frequent as the sun rose higher in the sapphire sky.

Grace's clutch on her blankets tightened as she fought to hold onto the last tendrils of blissful sleep, but she knew deep down she was fighting a lost cause.

_Please...just...let me... sleep!_

The dorm room door burst opened to reveal a perky short and stout fourth year grinning into the room with a rather cheeky expression.

"G_ooood_ morning 6th years! Rise and shine sleeping beauties; the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky! It is going to be a B-E-A_-UTIFUL _day!

_I can ignore this...I can. Just tune it—_

Chirp

"UGH!" Grace screamed into her pillow. "That is _IT!_"

She proceeded to pummel her defenseless pillow with her fists as she irefully resigned herself to the will of the day, before the sudden rush of pain in her head told her to stop before she fainted.

She threw her covers off her angrily and got out of bed muttering, oblivious to the shocked looks on all sides.

"_Stupid birds, stupid light, stupid loud fourth years, stupid bloody CHIRPING! Can't have a single bloody moment of quiet, can't…"_

Tris Garner —the afore mentioned fourth year intruder— looked frightened. Being a mere fourth year, any grudges held by a sixth or seventh year could be torture for the source of the grudge. She had only done what Granger had asked; and that was to make sure the 5th and 6th years were getting up. It was the first day back after all; people would still be on their holiday schedule and still unwilling to get up past noon for something as unholy as _school_.

"S-s-sorry." Tris stuttered. "I was just following orders." With a resolution _never_ to volunteer to help Granger again —she didn't care if she _was_ a prefect—, she fled.

"Wow Grace," Lavender remarked with wide eyes. "Spaz much?"

Grace ignored her. She was too busy trying to stay upright as she waited for the waves of pain that were rushing through her head to subside. She just knew this was _not_ going to be a good day for her.

_Which_ she thought, was totally unfair considering her last conscious act yesterday was a good deed towards her worst enemy. Surely she deserved better than _this. _There was simply no justice in the world she decided. No bloody justice.

_**I, TwilightG, do solemnly swear to review all the fics I enjoy, regardless of the number of reviews, its age, or anything else. **_**It's a good pledge. Please follow it, because it lets me know how many people actually like the story, rather than those who read it and don't.**

This pledge is at the bottom of currently my favorite Avatar story so far (_Mistakes of the Past, by Sayle), _and it mirrors my own thoughts so closely that I've decided to post it here in hope that you will follow it as I will strive to follow it.


End file.
